Changes in Central and Eastern Europe Chapter 19, Section 4 Changes in Central and Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe During Gorbachev Lithuania, Poland, and Hungary are the first countries to in Eastern Europe to revolt against the Soviet Union During the 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet Union dealt with uprisings in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia by crushing uprisings with military force

Imre Nagy and Hungary In 1956, in response to uprisings and protests, Hungarian leader, Imre Nagy, declared Hungary a free nation Nagy withdrew Hungary from Warsaw Pact Nikita Khrushchev sends in troops and crushes the uprising Soviets arrest Nagy, secretly charged him with organizing the overthrow of the communist party in Hungary Nagy is found guilty and hanged in June 1958 Khrushchev had Nagy executed, “as a lesson to all other leaders in socialist countries”

Alexander Dubcek and Czechoslovakia Alexander Dubchek was made first secretary of the Communist party in Czechoslovakia Allowing freedom of speech was the reform Dubchek made in reaction to rebellions in Czechoslovakia

Dubcek & his “Prague Spring” Dubchek became leader of Czechoslovakia after communist leader resigned He attempted to reform Czech through his policy known as the Prague Spring Prague Spring Reforms- Loosening restrictions on travel, speech, and media Country will be split into two democratic republics: The Czech Republic & Slovakia

Brezhnev Doctrine & Czechoslovakia By giving his countries, The Czech Republic & Slovakia, democratic (capitalist) reforms…Dubchek went against the Brezhnev Doctrine Brezhnev Doctrine- When a socialist (communist) country turns to capitalism (or democracy), it becomes a problem and concern for all communist countries

Brezhnev orders the Warsaw Pact to attack Czechoslovakia in 1968 200,000 troops and 2,000 tanks enter the Czech Republic & Slovakia 72 Czechs and Slovakians were killed, 266 severely injured, 436 wounded

Lenoid Brezhnev Alexander Dubchek

Czechoslovakia in 1968 In 1968, Prague Spring began as a writers protest Hard-line Communist leader resigned and was replaced by one more open to democratic reform A new leader (Alexander Ducheck) instituted reforms allowing for greater freedom of speech and the press Soviets reestablished control and restored hard-line communists to power

Lech Walesa and Poland Lech Walesa was the union leader of the Polish worker union known as Solidarity His union went on strike which forced the Polish communist government of Poland to recognize his union’s demands Lech Walesa becomes a national hero and eventually president of democratic Poland

Lech Walesa

The Collapse of the Soviet Union Chapter 19, Section 3 The Collapse of the Soviet Union

The Politburo It the most powerful law-making body in the Soviet Union Was the ruling committee of the Communist Party Politburo means “Political Bureau” or leading party Started by Lenin in 1917

Mikhail Gorbachev After Brezhnev died, people were wondering who was going to succeed him Mikhail Gorbachev gains support bc of his “youth, energy, and political skills” He pursues new ideas for running the Soviet Union

Leonid Brezhnev v. Mikhail Gorbachev New USSR Died 1982 Gen. Sec. 1985 Reformer End of Old USSR

Gorbachev brings change Prior communist leaders created a totalitarian state (they had total control over peoples public and private lives) They rewarded silence and obedience to them and the country and punished those that spoke out Gorbachev believed that social reforms could not occur without free flow of ideas That’s where he came up with the idea of glasnost

Glasnost Glasnost- openness. Encouraging the free flow of ideas & information. Basically Freedom of press and religion. Examples- books not banned any longer, reporters could criticize the government Churches are reopened, people can now choose own religion Prisoners put in jail for political reasons now released In response to glasnost, there was decreased censorship, the release of political dissidents, and criticism of the government by the media

Democratization Democratization-opening of political system Example- people now choose from a list who to vote for also a parliament was created parliament= a group of people that represent the entire people of Russia, vote on laws, etc The reforms that led to democratization of the Soviet Union was begun by Mikhail Gorbachev

Perestroika Perestroika- economic restructuring. A change from communism to capitalism Its purpose: To revive the Soviet economy Example- people could now open small, private businesses and keep money they make from it

Lithuania defies Gorbachev Gorbachev’s reforms caused the USSR to loosen its hold on their satellite (communist) Eastern European countries Some of these nations begin to declare independence Lithuania was the first of these satellite nations it boldly declared its independence Gorbachev, feared that if he allows one satellite country to get away and declare independence from the Soviet Union, others would try too He sends in troops to stop Lithuania

August Coup The August Coup was the military action that accelerated the fall of the Soviet Union Economic problems and the Lithuanian incident causes Gorbachev to lose popularity Economic problems were caused by the Soviet Union supplying their communist nations with weapons and money during the Cold War, also funding the Afghanistan war cost a LOT of money

Hardliners detain Gorbachev at his vacation home on Black Sea They ask for his resignation Boris Yeltsin was a popular parliament member Appeals to Soviet troops to not support hardliners Military listens and leaves the hardliners coup

Significance of August Coup The outcome of the August Coup is that the Communist Party is taken out of power over the Soviet Union Gorbachev leaves office, Yeltsin comes in and becomes president Soviet Union begins to break up Countries under Soviet control quickly declare independence Soviet Union goes back to being called Russia

Soviet Union Collapses Why did it collapse in the 1980s and early 1990s? Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms August Coup Reagan’s SDI program Major reason: the struggling soviet command economy could not keep up with a Western free-market system